MY TRUE MATE ‣ SEQUEL

Chapter 17. Him

Nino's POV

"What do I do now?" I asked in a hard, robotic voice. 

Wayzz shrugged, "Well naturally, you would start putting your feet in front of each other and start a physical exercise called 'walking to school', but I'm completely fine with gawking in the middle of the street." 

"Okay," I breathed heavily and put a foot in front of my other foot. 

Wayzz stared at me and added, "Repeat." 

"Okay," I breathed once more as I started walking. It was more like the hybrid mix of skipping and limping but at least I was trudging forward. 

"Nino!" Adrien's voice pierced me. Then he stopped, looking at me. "Hi, awkward-robot-that-replaced-Nino." His eyebrow was arched. 

"See!" I cried at Wayzz. "Even Adrien thinks I'm awkward! If Adrien thinks I'm awkward, I'm basically a turtle, one that's really awkward!" 

Wayzz evenly retorted, "Turtles are not awkward, they are a wonderful species that have a strong sense of individuality that helps them survive the harsh—" 

"We get it," Patrick and I snapped at the same time. 

"Is that where the awkward turtle came from?" Adrien mused to himself. 

"It's the girls," Wayzz warned me. Then he slid behind me, sinking into my shadows like he always did when Trixx was around. He was a master in camouflage and disappearing, almost as if he had been running away his whole life. 

Marinette was immediately inseparable next to Adrien and Tyler ran off to Patrick, which left me awkward between two girls; my crush and my bestfriend's nemesis. 

"Hi," Trixie said dryly. Her eyes were sharp with a glimmering edge. "How do you do, Jade Turtle?" 

Alya flinched noticeably. 

"I'm not Jade Turtle," I defended, my face turning pink. 

Trixie looked between me and Alya, shrugging nonchalantly. "Oops," she said. "My bad, I was just confused for a second." Then she muttered something that made Patrick roll his eyes. 

It was just awkward. 

"Keep walking!" Wayzz reminded behind me. "Remember, one foot at a time." 

Knowing that Wayzz was analyzing my every movement was even more awkward now. I took a deep breath. "Oh-um, hi V-Alya," I stuttered, my eyes glued to my shoes. 

"Valya?" Trixie chirped. "That's a cool nickname." 

"Oh, hi too, good m-morning," Alya mumbled beside me. Was she thinking about how Jade Turtle rejected her last night? I was regretting that so bad right now.